It’s been nearly a week now since unrestricted free agency opened, and the best players on the market have already signed contracts with their new teams. For a team in need of depth NHL’ers, however, there remain options.

Yesterday, we looked at what the Oilers could do if they wanted to address their fourth line centre position; today we look at potential third line wingers.

As it currently stands, some combination of Ales Hemsky, Ryan Jones, Ryan Smyth and Jesse Joensuu are likely to fill the two positions on either side of Boyd Gordon. The organization seemingly has an interest in trading Hemsky, and the other three are all arguably better fitted to the fourth than the third line. Are there free agents available who could help bolster the position?

The Remnant

The list above is not exhaustive, but includes every winger to record at least 10 points last season as well as a few others who I identified in my preliminary sweep as being conceivably of interest.

My View

With each player, I ask myself three questions. First, is there a good probability of him out-performing Ryan Jones in 2013-14? Second, is he a good fit for a Boyd Gordon-centered line; in other words, can he handle a primarily defensive role? Finally, is it plausible that he would accept a contract that would be a good fit for the Oilers?

Personal viewpoints will doubtless differ, but here’s how that list breaks down for me:

That leaves three names worth investigating. Nik Antropov adds size and versatility to the lineup; he can fill in anywhere in the top nine and can also play centre if necessary; he killed penalties sporadically last year but has been a regular on that unit in the past. Alexei Ponikarovsky is coming off a hard year offensively and hasn’t been a regular penalty killer; still he has a strong track record 5-on-5 and would add size to the lineup. Vaclav Prospal can score quite a bit; he’s on this list because he’s also played tough minutes in the very recent past. He’s a better fit for top-six minutes than on a checking line, and he hasn’t seen much time on the penalty kill in recent years.

Despite the number of names, there aren’t a lot of players who strike me as strong fits for the Oilers’ third line. Nik Antropov might be the best fit of the bunch but would need to come at a sizable discount from the $4.75 million he earned last season; but then it’s not likely an NHL team would give that to him.

Recently around the Nation Network

Aside from [Pekka] Rinne, who could very well be an outlier here (and we have reason to believe he could be legitimately great at this), there isn't that much a goalie can do in a given year to suggest he has the ability to save more than a few goals. This may be an artifact of the data quality we have to work with. Or it could simply be too difficult for most NHL goalies to control what happens to a very-high-speed projectile after it hits them in the chest.

Click the link to read more, or alternately, feel free check out some of my other pieces here:

Jonathan Willis is a freelance writer.
He currently works for Oilers Nation, Sportsnet, the Edmonton Journal and Bleacher Report.
He's co-written three books and worked for myriad websites, including Grantland, ESPN, The Score, and Hockey Prospectus. He was previously the founder and managing editor of Copper & Blue.

The answer is Ryan Smyth. He will have a bounce back year. No more Belanger Triangle to ruin him. No more playing out of position at center. No more failed Hartikainen experiment in front of the net on the PP. He is also to proud, to much of a warrior and has to much heart not to bounce back. True Oiler fans believe in you Smytty.

Looks like our new farm team is the KHL . Step up on the opposition perhaps ? We appear to be good at that marketplace . Perhaps we should send some of our prospects back to them for seasoning and playing time ?

First off Crosby is the one big name i'd probably not want to risk going after with his injury record . Doubt Pitt. would even consider moving him at that price anyways .

Wax man was obviously being sarcastic. Second if Crosby is so injury prone why wouldn't pitt trade him? Oh yeah cause he's the best player on the planet and puts up more points injured than 99% of the players in the league. My god there's some stupid oiler fans out there.

Were you to have read properly, you'd see i addressed the thread topic in my first sentence, gave a suggestion for what we consequently should do, then.....started a new paragraph to illustrate an entirely new idea.

start eating goji berries...good for concentration

How do you expect anyone to "read properly" your incoherent babble when you:

To be clear, I don't think the Oilers should remotely consider signing Hejduk. I guess the question is more what your expectations are for Jones if he is a full-time 3rd liner playing with Gordon and Hemsky (or his replacement)?

Is 30 - 35 points a reasonable expectation?

BTW, I did not realize Ponikarovsky was anywhere near as big as listed. The guy is huge.

I'm not making the call on offence. Given age and recent history, I don't think Milan Hejduk is necessarily a good bet to be a better two-way player than Jones.

Who needs the glasses? The thread is titled "Free Agent Possibilities: Third Line Wing". So when you don't bother to mention what you think we need, then we have to go by the thread title.

Not to mention trading Gagner "to land what we need" still leaves Gordon and Lander as our #1 and #2 centers to start the year, then our #2 #3 the rest of the year when Nuge is back... Great plan! Not to mention Mac-T has said more than once how much he loves Gagner, so in other words he isn't getting traded any time soon. Get over it.

Or are you saying that Gagner will land us another 2C, a 1A D-man, a 2LW, a 3LW and a 4C?

reading comprehension problems as well ic.

Were you to have read properly, you'd see i addressed the thread topic in my first sentence, gave a suggestion for what we consequently should do, then.....started a new paragraph to illustrate an entirely new idea.

Why do you guys waste your time talking about Crosby Thorton Stamkos Toews Weber etc They are not getting traded I can't believe anyone would even mention Penners name Hell would freeze over before MacT signed him He single handly got him fired resigned Its good he signed so we don't have to listen to that anymore Give up on Grabovsky to He's another small center I would give Gilbert Brule a chance at least he plays bigger than he is and should be motivated Kyle Clifford is exactly what we need size age but will have to give up a lot to get him

I think we should sign period, & comma to long term deals. For whatever reason if we can't get them look into Gagner + 1st rounder for semi colon.

Now we are talking bold moves . How about putting Hemsky in with the group and go after a Toews , Tavares , Weber type acquisition ? However , our bottom six is the topic and it could also stand some upgrading . I'm not sure what the bottom six even is beyond Smyth ,Gordon , Jones , and maybe Brown . Maybe our own prospects are better than what's left on UFA list ? Anyone aware of any of their agents trying to get an offer from us ? MacT. has probably contacted any he might consider . Doubt were the first choice destination for any one of them . Many on Willis's list could prove to be an upgrade , but at what price . I like Morrow and his intangibles , Raymond , bargain players like Armstrong and even Kobasew .

To be clear, I don't think the Oilers should remotely consider signing Hejduk. I guess the question is more what your expectations are for Jones if he is a full-time 3rd liner playing with Gordon and Hemsky (or his replacement)?

Is 30 - 35 points a reasonable expectation?

BTW, I did not realize Ponikarovsky was anywhere near as big as listed. The guy is huge.

Like Brad Boyes, can play the middle or the wing. He's had good success on the offensive side of things, and at probably a little under Jones type money, i'd bring him here in a heartbeat if he was excited about a two yr opportunity here. Wouldn't take long till Boyes perhaps even pushes Gordon down to the 4th line. The thought of moving Boyes to the right side along with Gordon in the middle and Clifford on the left side does have some serious curb appeal though, to me anyways.

JW, Thank you for your breakdown of all the available options and then quickly crossing them off the list because they are either not an improvement over what we have or can't really fill the need that we are missing.

I am tired of guys just skimming through the UFA list and suggesting every name they recognize as someone MacT should add to improve our bottom 6. Hopefully this will finally make people realize that the players we need are't just sitting at hope waiting for a phone call. Don't even get me started on everyone who thinks we can just get our hands on any RFA out there as well.

Of those three you listed I may consider Antropov as he can kill penalties and has size but doesn't use it as well as he should. I would not say he is a backup faceoff guy with a career well under 50%. I don't see him as a definite upgrade over what we have. I would rather go with someone like Jones, who we know and has solid potential to improve over last year then add someone we don't know and "think" may be a marginal improvement.

One last point, why are both Antropov and Ponikarovsky both still not resigned by the Jets? Its not like they are a deep team or anything. If they don't think they could be 3rd line players on their team, why should we think they would vastly improve our third line?

Hopefully this stops the lists of 30 people that think would make our bottom 6 better!

All those players are worse than terrible. Cant we find some Belov's in Europe or the khl to play fwd?

this proves that the trade route is the only way to go. we should be peddling prospects and gagner to land what we need. people get too emotional about this...

Gagner + 1st rd 2014 for?

2014 1st rd for?

Now we are talking bold moves . How about putting Hemsky in with the group and go after a Toews , Tavares , Weber type acquisition ? However , our bottom six is the topic and it could also stand some upgrading . I'm not sure what the bottom six even is beyond Smyth ,Gordon , Jones , and maybe Brown . Maybe our own prospects are better than what's left on UFA list ? Anyone aware of any of their agents trying to get an offer from us ? MacT. has probably contacted any he might consider . Doubt were the first choice destination for any one of them . Many on Willis's list could prove to be an upgrade , but at what price . I like Morrow and his intangibles , Raymond , bargain players like Armstrong and even Kobasew .

I will concede that he has 2 bad years in his immediate rear-view mirror, but I think there's a reasonable chance Anti Miettinen could outperform Ryan Jones on the 3rd line. And he can still handle 4th line duty as a responsible defensive minded player with a little goal-scoring ability. Growing up in Dallas and Minnesota means he knows how to play in his own end, and he's put up a bunch of seasons of 15-20 goals. Also, you should be able to get him for almost nothing afer last year.

Now we are talking bold moves . How about putting Hemsky in with the group and go after a Toews , Tavares , Weber type acquisition ? However , our bottom six is the topic and it could also stand some upgrading . I'm not sure what the bottom six even is beyond Smyth ,Gordon , Jones , and maybe Brown . Maybe our own prospects are better than what's left on UFA list ? Anyone aware of any of their agents trying to get an offer from us ? MacT. has probably contacted any he might consider . Doubt were the first choice destination for any one of them . Many on Willis's list could prove to be an upgrade , but at what price . I like Morrow and his intangibles , Raymond , bargain players like Armstrong and even Kobasew .

Who needs the glasses? The thread is titled "Free Agent Possibilities: Third Line Wing". So when you don't bother to mention what you think we need, then we have to go by the thread title.

Not to mention trading Gagner "to land what we need" still leaves Gordon and Lander as our #1 and #2 centers to start the year, then our #2 #3 the rest of the year when Nuge is back... Great plan! Not to mention Mac-T has said more than once how much he loves Gagner, so in other words he isn't getting traded any time soon. Get over it.

Or are you saying that Gagner will land us another 2C, a 1A D-man, a 2LW, a 3LW and a 4C?

If only Hemsky had worked on/was versatile enough to move into the middle. Things may have been ending differently for him here in Edmonton. During his more than a decade here, you'd think a player could develop a secondary ability to help his team when needed. Sometimes the teams needs, outweigh the players wants.

That half hour after practice each day Ales, was paved with opportunity.

Jonathan, what are your thoughts on Peter Mueller? His injury history and bad year might make him cheap, and even though he's not ideally suited for a checking role, I think his size, age and pedigree might make him a risk well worth taking.

How much more value would hemsky have if we signed him to an average salary of 5M but the first year was 7 and the second year was 3M. Now cap floor teams get the benefit of a 5M cap hit and only have to pay 3.

Why do you guys waste your time talking about Crosby Thorton Stamkos Toews Weber etc They are not getting traded I can't believe anyone would even mention Penners name Hell would freeze over before MacT signed him He single handly got him fired resigned Its good he signed so we don't have to listen to that anymore Give up on Grabovsky to He's another small center I would give Gilbert Brule a chance at least he plays bigger than he is and should be motivated Kyle Clifford is exactly what we need size age but will have to give up a lot to get him

Why do you guys waste your time talking about Crosby Thorton Stamkos Toews Weber etc They are not getting traded I can't believe anyone would even mention Penners name Hell would freeze over before MacT signed him He single handly got him fired resigned Its good he signed so we don't have to listen to that anymore Give up on Grabovsky to He's another small center I would give Gilbert Brule a chance at least he plays bigger than he is and should be motivated Kyle Clifford is exactly what we need size age but will have to give up a lot to get him

Madjam likes to promote hockey talk so he throws out what he thinks are 'possible scenarios' so that we talk more about it.

If only Hemsky had worked on/was versatile enough to move into the middle. Things may have been ending differently for him here in Edmonton. During his more than a decade here, you'd think a player could develop a secondary ability to help his team when needed. Sometimes the teams needs, outweigh the players wants.

That half hour after practice each day Ales, was paved with opportunity.

Yeah I wonder how Hemsky would have worked at centre. With his puck moving (and losing), skills?
He has speed & has shown he can back check.

Why do you guys waste your time talking about Crosby Thorton Stamkos Toews Weber etc They are not getting traded I can't believe anyone would even mention Penners name Hell would freeze over before MacT signed him He single handly got him fired resigned Its good he signed so we don't have to listen to that anymore Give up on Grabovsky to He's another small center I would give Gilbert Brule a chance at least he plays bigger than he is and should be motivated Kyle Clifford is exactly what we need size age but will have to give up a lot to get him

A month ago, you had the names Lecavilier and Seguin included on that list as well. They must've been soft inclusions then, eh? Puck off with your "in the know" exclusive availability list. How do you know the reason some players are/aren't available.

I'd argue Latendresse fits all the criteria you listed. He is younger and bigger than Jones has superior offensive numbers and hits more . They are likely a saw off in possession metrics. Latendresse would likely cost less.

The only issue with Latendresse is obviously injury history. Looking at his track record (concussions/neck) it is ugly but he was durable early in his career. His average would be about 52 games a season vs. Jones at 62 games/season (including time in the minors).

At his career average Latendresse would put up 13g, 9 a and 22 p in 52 games. Even if you assume Jones plays 82 games his averages only get him to 13g, 10 a and 23 p.